


Unfortunate Son

by Femalefonzie



Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: And Has To Come To Terms With It, Angst and Feels, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, But God Help Him He's Trying (For Once), But He Has Doubts, Cameron Campbell Being an Asshole (Camp Camp), Cameron Campbell is A Pretty Terrible Dad, Camp Campbell's Camp Activities (Camp Camp), Childhood Trauma, Cults, Daniel Does Not Deserve Redemption But I'm Giving It To Him, Daniel Realizes The Truth About Xemug, David is Trying to Help, Drama, Eh. Maybe some Danvid later but I'm not banking on it, Family Drama, Family Issues, Father-Son Relationship, Gen, Gwen is Living for all This Drama, He's Legitimately Trying To Recover But You Know, It's hard, It's not the focus of this fic, Like She Couldn't Be Happier, Long Lost/Secret Relatives, Max is Not Happy, Mental Health Issues, Most of Cameron Campbell's Assholery is in the Past, Nor Does He Trust Anyone, Recovery, Reunions, Space Kid is Precious, deprogramming
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-29
Updated: 2020-11-29
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:21:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27431176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Femalefonzie/pseuds/Femalefonzie
Summary: After learning some unsettling truths about himself and his history, Daniel is sent to Camp Campbell as part of his recovery in order to create a bond with the only living family member he has left. No one is happy about it.
Relationships: Cameron Campbell & Daniel (Camp Camp), Cameron Campbell/Penelope Priss, Daniel & David & Gwen (Camp Camp), Daniel & David (Camp Camp), Daniel & Gwen (Camp Camp), David & Gwen (Camp Camp)
Comments: 12
Kudos: 16





	Unfortunate Son

Like most days at Camp Campbell, things had been going fine until one disaster struck. It was always something; a wild animal attack, a raid from the Wood Scouts, FBI involvement, but, on this particular day, the threat to the well being of all those who currently attended the camp was a familiar face hell-bent on their collective destruction. One minute the campers were preparing for a scavenger hunt in the forest then, in the blink of an eye it seems, they were hunted down one by one, tied up, and dragged together in a huge pile, helpless to defend themselves as their assailant paced back and forth at their feet, running his finger along the edge of his blade as he tried to decide who he would strike down first. To Daniel, this was a gold mine. An absolutely perfect beginning to what was shaping up to be a good day!

"How many times do we need to teach you not to mess with Camp Campbell!?" Max, ever the troublemaker, screamed and thrashed on the spot. "We're up to what, five times now?"

"Just four," Neil answered. Not that he had been keeping track of how many times over the summer they'd come close to getting killed. If he actually sat down, got some paper & some coffee, and tried to map out a complete list of every time someone had tried to kill one or more of the campers, the list would be a mile long. Daniel was just the weirdest of their constant challenges. "We may need to look into getting punch-cards made." 

"Joke all you want but this time I have you right where I want you." This was it. Finally it. The Camp Campbell crew was all tied up with no Woodscouts, no overly chipper counsellors, no expired hot chocolate, absolutely nothing that could save them! Daniel grinned to himself, twirling his ceremonial blade between his fingers as his eyes raked down the line of incapacitated campers, searching for the one he'd offer up first. "All I need is one. One sacrifice to get the ball rolling and then I'll have won Xemug's eternal favor!"

Max snorted and rolled his eyes, "Well, let us know how that works out for you." 

Daniel tilted his head hard to the side causing it to crack. Of course. He had been blind to think of anyone else. It had, and would always be, Max. He needed to go first. Xemug needed him to be the first one to enter into eternity. Daniel stopped showing off with his blade, his grip tightening around the hilt as he stalked towards the boy. "That's it. You're first-"

The door to the mess hall swung open and Cameron Campbell came stumbling out, half asleep, clutching a cup of coffee as if it were a life-ring and he was drowning in the ocean. He took a long sip of his coffee, scratched his lower back, and examined the scene before him with bored disinterest. "What in the fresh Hell did I just walk into?"

Daniel blinked a couple of times and stared at the newcomer. He had been to Camp Campbell multiple times before and not once had he seen this man. "Who the hell is that?" He asked, though he already knew the answer; another complication that, in some absurd way, was going to ruin his brilliantly executed plan!

The sudden appearance of Cameron C. Campbell was enough to make David perk up and start squirming against his bindings. He started shouting a mile a minute, causing those closest next to him to wince. He could get loud when he wanted to be... "Mr. Campbell! Thank goodness you're here! Quick! You gotta help us! He's going to try and sacrifice us!"

"It's always something with you people." Campbell sighed and took one last, long sip from his coffee before setting the now empty cup down next to the doors to the mess hall and stalking forward to the group. He reached into his back pocket and produced a pocket knife. Not something that could hold up against Daniel's ceremonial blade, but something that would easily cut through the ropes keeping everyone in place. "Alright. Fine. Hold still."

Just his luck, another plan was slipping out of his grasp! Well, Daniel was not going to fail this time! He could not go home empty-handed yet again. "Stop!" He shouted but Campbell just ignored him in favor of working on the ropes. 

"Careful Sir! He's got a knife!" David cried out. 

"He's dangerous!" Neil agreed. 

Campbell was not impressed. The man had fought bears, mountain lions, at one point the camp platypus when the little bastard tried to get into his medicinals, he could handle one skinny blond kid who got a little overzealous with a knife. Daniel took a stab forward, tried to swipe Campbell's side, but the man just stepped to the side and caught Daniel's arm. One slight squeeze was enough to get Daniel to drop the knife and trap him in place. "Who? This twink?" Campbell asked. The guy couldn't weigh more than a hundred pounds. He was all skin and bone! And yet this idiot was the one who was able to get some of the rowdiest children known to man trapped like animals? It was a damn shame. Campbell scoffed, "You people. We really need to work on building your upper body-" Out of the corner of his eye, Campbell saw something shimmer. He turned and looked, noticing a thin bracelet on the younger man's wrist. It was silver, plain, with a large amazonite stone in the center of the band. Campbell froze. Unable to take his eyes off the bracelet, Campbell placed his index finger against the stone. The color didn't fade. It was not painted. It was real..."Hey, Kid, where'd you get this?"

"Don't touch that!" Daniel snapped and managed to wretch his arm free from Campbell's grasp. "It's mine!"

That was strange. The bracelet, while plain, was quite unique, mostly due to the way the thin band was shaped. It was not something that someone could just enter a random jewelry store and purchase, even months in advance. And yet, Campbell had seen this bracelet before. A long time ago... "Wait a minute." He mumbled as the weight of the situation came crashing down upon him. "Wait a fucking minute!" He knew that bracelet. Oh God, this couldn't be happening! Campbell grabbed Daniel by the shoulders, forcing him to stare into the man's now wild eyes. "How old are you!?"

Though he failed to see what that had to do with anything, Daniel answered, "26-"

"Oh Shit!" Campbell let go of Daniel's shoulders and the younger man stumbled back, thoroughly confused. "Oh fuck!" Campbell buried his hands in his hair, attempting to grab onto something in order to keep himself grounded. He looked around between the sea of faces staring at him. Somehow, being tied up and almost murdered by a cultist was not the strangest thing to happen this morning. "Oh, Shit! Oh, Fuck!" No one was going to help him with this. It was all up to him. That may have been the worst development yet! Campbell jabbed an accusatory finger into Daniel's chest and barked a command, "Wait here!" Before turning tail and running straight back into the mess hall. 

Well then...Daniel looked down at the group, still incapacitated and looking as lost as he was. At least he wasn't alone in this one. "...So I know we're not on good terms or anything but is that...normal for him?"

Gwen groaned and if she were able to, would have facepalmed. It was not even nine o'clock yet and she could already feel a headache coming on. "Not in the slightest." 

That was the man in charge of this fucking place and yet Daniel kept losing to these people? Xemug give him strength... It briefly crossed the cultist's mind to just throw in the towel, cut the campers loose, hightail it out of there, and return some other day once he had been able to regroup his thoughts and prepare for the big burly man who apparently lived at the camp now. Before he could act on anything though, Campbell returned. He kicked the doors to the mess hall open and came charging towards the group like a man on a mission, a box tucked under his arm like a football. Everyone remained frozen in place as he stooped before Daniel and barked another command, "Give me your arm!"

He did not wait for an answer. Campbell snagged Daniel's arm, turned it over, and produced something small and cylindrical from the box. A syringe, Campbell had a syringe. Daniel's eyes widened upon seeing the instrument but just as he opened his mouth to protest and he tried to pull away, Campbell jammed it into arm. " ** _Ow! What the fuc_** -"

Campbell wasn't listening. It had been a long time since he had to draw blood so his full attention was devoted to not accidentally slicing open a vein or knicking an artery or causing the cultist to bleed out. They were just lucky there hadn't been any air bubbles in that syringe or else they really would have been in trouble. He only took a small sample of blood, enough that he was certain that the test would work, and gingerly retracted the needle. Daniel immediately pulled his arm back and ran his hand over the affected area. "What's the matter with you?" He snapped but Campbell still wasn't listening. From inside the box, he produced something square & metallic and inserted the end of the syringe into an input slot. Thank God he'd had the foresight to buy this little baby on the black web back when he'd gotten into impulse buying. The kit was already paying for itself!

"Mr. Campbell, what are you doing-?" David asked. That thing that Campbell was holding, it almost looked like one of those machines that diabetics used to measure their sugar levels. Well, that would explain the blood sample, but why would he need it from Daniel of all people? 

Max, on the other hand, couldn't care less and continued to struggle against his confines. "Get us out of here!"

" ** _EVERYBODY JUST SHUT UP THIS IS IMPORTANT!_** " Campbell screamed, his eyes focused on the tiny box in his hand, waiting for the results to pour in and put his fears to rest. He had to have been seeing things. Surely this could not be true, could not be happening. From the way, he was holding the box, the white block lettering on the side could now be read with ease though it did nothing to alleviate the groups' concerns and fears. If anything, it added to them. There, boldly displayed, were the words " _Emergency DNA Test_."

"Jesus fucking Christ," Gwen murmured. She was going to need to down a bottle of Advil when she got out of here. That or a bottle of vodka straight. Preferably the vodka. She was not drunk (or paid well) enough to be dealing with this bullshit so early in the morning. "You cannot be serious. You think he's your-"

The machine in Campbell's hand dinged as it finished processing the results and a number flashed across the screen in bright red letters: _Genetic Match. More than 50% shared DNA_. "Holy shit..."

* * *

This had been a long time coming. A meeting years in the making but that did not make it any less awkward for Campbell. There he was, just shy of fifty years old, at the crappy campground he'd created out of spite, sitting at one of the rickety old picnic tables across from his son. His adult son. His adult son who, not even ten minutes ago, had the campers and his employees tied up with the intention of sacrificing them to some whacky space God. Life was funny sometimes. That or this was karma finally coming back to take a big chunk out of Cameron Campbell's ass. As he sat there, trying to find traces of himself in Daniel and coming up with little to nothing, Campbell decided it was a mixture of both. "I...I don't know where to even begin here." 

"I think the best place to start is by asking why the fuck we are here!?" Max's familiar voice shouted before David had the chance to try and silence him. "And why we aren't shipping Mr. Crazy over there straight to the nearest mental hospital!"

"Hey! Watch how you speak about my son, kid." Huh. Didn't that sound weird? _His son_ ; it was going to take Campbell some time to get used to that. _His son_. What was he even supposed to do with a kid? Granted, Daniel was an adult. That made it a little easier...probably. Bonding was always made easier when both parties could get drunk and take edibles. Campbell scratched the back of his neck, "So...tell me about yourself?" 

Daniel sat across from him, hands folded, those crystal blue eyes staring holes through Campbell's head. "Where were you?"

"Oh. Okay. Right out the gate with the big questions huh?" Campbell looked over at the other group huddled together, desperate to avoid having to look into those damn big blue eyes. Across the mess hall, clustered together in one big group hanging off each and every word, were the campers and their poor, confused counselors. Well, David was confused. Confused, crest-fallen, sporting a look on his face like someone had just poured hot soup onto his lap. Gwen, on the other hand, was watching the scene unfold as if this was the key to her happiness; like she was a child on Christmas and her dad had just surprised her with a pony. Any moment now, she may begin salivating. "...maybe you should take the campers out?"

David immediately took the chance to jump to his feet and start herding the campers towards the door. They didn't need much of a push. All of them had been waiting for the chance to leave without drawing attention to themselves and making it awkward. Gwen, on the other hand, remained rooted to her seat and batted David's hand away when he tried to get her up. "No way! I am loving this!"Her co-counselor sighed but managed to hook his arms underneath Gwen's armpits and drug her towards the door, kicking and screaming all of the way. 

Campbell waited until the mess hall had been cleared before opening his mouth again. It gave him some time to try and get his thoughts together, to try and think of a good enough answer, "It's a long story, what happened between your mother and me-"

"Did you run out?"

"God no!" Campbell answered quickly and without hesitation. "Well, I was away but not in the way that you're thinking. It was the summer of 1989. I just moved out here from New York and was gearing up to go on a backpacking trek through Belize come September when I met her. Your mother was such a free-spirit and we had so much fun together-"

"Little too much fun if you ask me." Daniel couldn't help but laugh awkwardly. He was living proof of that. 

Campbell decided not to respond to that comment because, no matter how short they had been acquainted, he was not going to discuss his sexual history with his son. He prayed to whatever God would listen that Daniel would return the favor. "Our plan was to meet up and continue seeing each other once I got back but a couple of weeks into my voyage I received a letter from her...telling me that she was pregnant." It hadn't been an...easy day. For anyone. Campbell sighed, "I was going to go home so I could be there with her, help her through it, but she insisted that I finish my trek, that she could handle things until I got back. So, I did." He stayed in Belize, continued his trek through the jungles, but the weight of everything that was going on back in Sleepy Peak, of what was waiting for him when he weighed heavily on Campbell's mind. It made the last few months of his trek almost unbearable. "But she wasn't there when I got back. And neither were you."

When he got back to Sleepy Peak, there had been nothing waiting for him. It had been as if his paramour, if their child, had never even existed. They were gone, lost to the breeze. "I did some digging and found out that members of a religious cult had been hovering around hospitals, lamaze classes, any places that they could find vulnerable people and pressure them into attendance at their church." And, by did some digging, Campbell meant he hired a private investigator to see where they had gone. It had been months before they got any real leads and...none of them had been pleasant. Some of the details regarding the scripture, the leadership, it was...disturbing. Even by Campbell's standards. "Some signed their newborns over to the group, others had their whole families sign up. I was told that she left with them, took our baby, and that it would be damn near impossible for me to ever get you both back."

Wasn't that always the case with cults? Every fucking member memorized the loopholes of the law by heart, the majority of their money went towards high-class lawyers who didn't give a shit where their income came from, and they preyed upon the most vulnerable people they could find to fill in their ranks. "They saw a pregnant woman alone...and they smelled weakness." 

Daniel shifted awkwardly. Suddenly, the air inside the mess hall felt hot. Sweltering hot. "...That's not what they told me..."

"Of course its not. They wanted to secure your loyalty, to keep you for themselves. It's what cults do." 

"Church." Daniel corrected him out of pure instinct. How many times had he corrected someone who made the same statement as Campbell, who had so _erroneously_ called his religion, his faith, the product of some super zealous cult? It...it had to have been a mistake. They didn't know what it was like inside the church, they didn't know about the family that existed within the compound, about the love and the happiness that it brought him. The...the happiness... Daniel slumped forward, burrowing his hands in his hair, "If it wasn't for the church I could have-...Fuck man...." What else could he say? It felt as if the ground beneath his feet was shaking, crumbling to dust, and his head was pounding. He felt dizzy. It was suddenly a struggle to keep his head up. "Oh fuck..."

"D-Daniel?" For a moment, Campbell considered reaching across the table and placing his hand on the younger man's shoulder, on his _son's_ shoulder, but he hesitated. Physical contact had never been his forte. Luckily, he didn't need to. Daniel managed to lift his head back up despite the growing static in his ears and mumble some words out, 

"I...I need help."


End file.
